Guangdong province's meteorological bureau said the powerful storm churned into an outlying district of the city of Zhuhai, just south of Hong Kong at 3:30 a.m. It was forecast to move in a southwesterly direction along the Guangdong coast at a speed of around 17 kph (10 mph), gradually weakening before heading out to sea

On Friday, 780,000 people in Guangdong were moved away from areas at risk as did 100,000 others in neighboring Fujian province. More than 80,000 fishing vessels returned to port

Workers stayed at home and students in various cities saw the start of their school year postponed to next week. Trading on Hong Kong's stock market was suspended Friday and hundreds of people were stranded at the airport after about 460 flights were canceled in the key regional business and travel hub

Rail authorities in mainland China halted all trains entering or leaving Guangdong province from Friday night to Saturday evening, state television CCTV reported

The Hong Kong Observatory had issued a No. 10 hurricane alert, the highest warning under the city's weather system. It was the first No. 10 warning since Super Typhoon Mangkhut hit Hong Kong in 2018